Sir Alex believed in people, and made them believe in themselves. There's no quote out there that he thought someone was rubbish, but they went on to greatness... it's always the belief in potential.
Yeah. You see this with young players sometimes esp defenders. Luke Shaw is another one and looked like he could be one of the best FB in Europe as a young player because they were fearless and energetic, bursting forward with reckless abandon
I don't personally think that was a mistake though. Evans and Pique were of similar stature and promise when the latter was let go. Evans was probably a bit more developed even.
Evans was very good player for us under Fergie and it was understandable that of two similar prospects, the Northern Irish player who'd come through the United academy from the start would've been preferred to the Catalonian former Barcelona youth player who would have likely hankered for a move back to Spain by the time he'd reached his potential.
Over the years there have been numerous players that have been declared has having “great potential”. I remember in particular, as we are talking centre backs, John Curtis, who was being looked at as a future England captain.
Also it doesn’t seem that long ago that Jack Wilshere and Tom Cleverley were being championed by UK press as the future of England’s central midfield.